CHAPTER X

DAVID AND THE INTERIOR

DAVID is an old town. There was a settlement where it stands at least two centuries back. The country thereabouts contained several fine estates, occupying large tracts of land, that had been granted to members of distinguished Spanish families by the Crown. In the Obaldia town house is a portrait of Don Lorenzo's great-grandfather, a stately old gentleman in the stiff and formal costume of the day, which the gentlemen of that time wore, to their great discomfort, in the most remote foreign countries. This first of the Obaldias in Chiriqui built, after the manner of his people, a substantial mansion and great stone gateways, remains of which are to be seen about the place at the present time. He was one of the pioneers of the Chiriqui cattle business. His good lady planted wild fig trees on the large expanse of llano before the house, and many

travellers before us have found grateful rest in the shade of their giant branches. Don Lorenzo's mother was a Jovenet, a member of another old family of Chiriqui which owns tens of thousands of hectares of the richest land.

Some day these Chiriqui properties will represent great wealth. At present they yield only a few thousand dollars a year from the sale of the cattle raised upon them. The landowners of Chiriqui, like the old-time planters of our South, have long since fallen into confirmed habits of ease, which they could not shake off, if they would. It must be left to another generation to apply enterprising methods to the development of their lands.

Another deterrent to improvement has been the constantly disturbed condition of the land since the wars of independence began, early in the last century. Revolutions have been frequent in the past hundred years, and each was the occasion for destruction and confiscation of property. In one of these uprisings, which occurred shortly before our occupation of the Canal Zone, the late President Obaldia was forced to flee for his life from his Chiriqui estate. The insurrectos seized his youngest

son and, in the belief that the father had hidden a large sum of money somewhere on the ranch, subjected the boy to the most inhuman treatment, in the attempt to make him reveal the supposed hiding place.

There is a half-sunken boat in the river at Pedragal, immediately opposite the wharf. At the time of the revolution in question it was afloat. On this the insurgents kept young Obaldia prisoner for weeks. He was scantily fed, and only half clothed. The mosquitoes and sand flies drove him to the verge of insanity. His captors constantly threatened him with death and kept him for long periods without water. But they failed to break down the youngster's fortitude and, if there was any truth in the story of hidden money, he maintained his determination not to reveal its whereabouts.

David is a picturesque city of from four to five thousand inhabitants. Of these, perhaps, five per cent are well-to-do, the majority being poor, but having all their actual needs supplied, which, after all, is a condition approximating wealth. Most of the dwellings are one-storied structures of frame or mud, with thatched roofs and small courtyards, or patios. The